Arnold Palmer Course

Arnold palmer at Turtle Bay serves up a back side that may be Hawaii's best nine holes. The stunning seaside setting in a woodsy "nature preserve" is imaginative and invigorating.

 Poised on the northernmost tip of Oahu, Turtle Bay Country Club is the perfect choice for the golfer who wants to escape the bustle of Honolulu and Waikiki. This secluded North Shore resort is named after the bay it overlooks, which is visited each year by green sea turtles that come to nest in Turtle Bay's pristine waters.
The Turtle Bay course has had to overcome a reputation as a "wind tunnel." Almost two decades old, the course's ironwood trees have matured, and many more shrubs have been planted, making wind less of a problem. Nevertheless, wind is still a definite factor, particularly on hole 7, 8, and 9. Turtle Bay also receives intermittent showers, but usually not enough to interrupt play.

One of the best-known holes on the course is the par-four 6th, a long 395 yards with a dogleg right. "This is the one you always see in the photographs," says PGA golf pro Jody Shaw, "because it's right on the ocean with the resort in the background." The fairway has a right-to-left slope which, combined with the right-to-left crosswind, makes it difficult to avoid two large fairway bunkers on the right. But the golfer who over-compensates may land in the heavy tough to the left of the fairway. "You can't see the surface of the green from the fairway, just the flag," says Shaw.

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